


it's like that

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, Conversations, Cunnilingus, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, IN SPACE!, Kree (Marvel), Soulmates, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 18:21:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12612596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Happy birthday to pers-books! Based on Cousyrewatch, set in S5 but callbacks to S2 angst.Even in space, Hunter won't stop comparing Daisy and Coulson to his relationship with Bobbi.





	it's like that

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Persiflage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/gifts).



Alone in the crawl space of the engine room, she sits, and listens to the humming around her.

When the sound of a pair of boots comes clunking down the stairs above her, she gets very still.

It's a habit, wanting to disappear sometimes, to get so small no one will notice.

"I learned something from you, you know."

The voice reverberates against the metal walls, loud enough to ring out over the engines.

Then he appears in her view, ducking his head into the crawlspace, and her eyes narrow for a moment, focusing on the bottle in his hand, another tucked under his arm.

"Really?" she asks with a shake of her head. "You brought your own stash? All the way out here."

"I have priorities," he tells her with a serious expression, then holds out one of the bottles to her.

She takes it from him and twists the top of it off, watching him settle down beside her on the floor inside the crawl space entrance.

They both take a drink in silence, as he smacks his lips and looks pleased before going on.

"All that time I spent being angry about the secrets and lies between me and Bobs-"

"You just complained about her yesterday," she reminds him, with a curt smile.

"I guess some things are perhaps fundamental to our natures-" he sighs, gesturing to her with the beer.

" _Our_ natures?" she replies, with a raise of her eyebrows.

"My point is, you were mad about secrets, too. But it motivated you. You didn’t turn it all inside. Let it fester."

"Glad I could help," she tells him, with a tilt of her head, and takes another drink, then looks at the bottle.

This makes her think about simpler times, or at least try to convince herself that they were.

Sure, it was mixed up with all this alien stuff, but not with the Kree. Not directly, at least.

"It was never about me," he sighs, relaxing against the ladder. "It was really about Bobs. 'Bout how I got left out. Being part of the solution."

"So, you're here because you want to be a part of the solution?"

She wonders. He left Bobbi back on Earth, he left the person he cares about the most to help Fitz get to the team.

"I left because I couldn't look Bobbi in the face again if I didn't," he tells her, chagrined.

"I see. It's all on Bobbi to make you a better man," she says cockily, then takes a long sip.

"Since when are you the damn cynical one?" he asks, sitting up straighter to look at her, resting his arm on his knee. "No," he says, leaning closer to her. "We're in this together. Even if I'm here and she's there. We're still SHIELD. Even if we're not."

"But this is my fight. I don't want this destiny.... _thing_ destroying everyone I care about."

"Then just imagine your life without him and don't ever look back," he shrugs. "Is that machine still around, the one that erases all the important stuff-"

"Of course I don't want that," she says abruptly. "They have him. Because of me," she rolls her eyes back, fighting against the guilt and fear inside trying to make their way to the surface.

"Daisy," he says softly, interrupting her thoughts with a jab of his elbow. "I'll help you get Phil back."

"It's not like that," she says, half-heartedly, and picks at the label on the bottle.

"Then what is it like? Because as long as I've known the two of you," he adds with a chuckle. "It looks very much _like_."

She starts to reply, but takes another drink instead.

  
###

  
"Phil, you can't let her shut you out like that."

"What?" he answers back, shaking his head for a second, looking for a way to stop his hands from fidgeting.

"Is there really any place she can go that you won't follow?" he throws out, as the agents filter out of the coms center.

"I'm sorry," Coulson replies to him, putting his hands on his hips, moving closer to make the conversation more private. "Is this you projecting again, or-"

"Me?" Hunter jokes, "Projecting? Not in the slightest. Just pure observation and my uncanny knack for reading the human heart."

Coulson doesn't look like he's taking the bait, but then, that's always his first face forward.

"Mate, if you lose her in space, I'm going to be really disappointed," he answers, watching him start to back away. "It's very large."

"We're not mates," Coulson reminds him, softening a bit. "And I appreciate everything you've done. I really do, but Daisy-"

"Is beautiful and powerful and stubborn and trying to protect you, yes," he nods knowingly. "I know. Does any of this seem _remotely familiar_?"

"She has a team of Inhumans, and she's their leader," he explains. "I'm not in charge here."

"You're really going to let a little thing like the Kree stop you from chasing after her _one more time_?!" he replies, trying to not bounce with nervous energy.

"If that's what she wants, yes," he tells him, staring back like he's daring him to go on. "I trust Daisy."

That stings a bit. He trusts Bobbi. It took awhile, but he learned to trust her, by-

"You're going to let them run off, up against that, and not even tell her?" he calls after him.

"Tell her what?" Coulson asks, turning back around, all stiff and Coulson-like, but his eyes give it all away.

"Bloody hell," he answers, looking over Coulson's shoulder to see who's still around. "Have you ever told her how you feel? 'Bout _her_?"

That gives him pause, and there it is, the first evidence that he's getting through. The little swallow.

"Daisy has a plan."

"Yes," he says, nodding, then rolling his eyes. "She has a plan. Fantastic, Phil."

"That's not what she needs right now," he answers, shaking his head, in that sort of all knowing way. Back when he could get away with it as Director.

"You sound really certain about that. Maybe I've read this all wrong."

"Maybe you have."

He hasn't read it wrong, though. The man's hands are clenched and he looks stiff as a board.

"Good," he replies. "Because I'd hate for her to never know."

Pushing his way past Coulson, he waits until he's almost at the door, then gets one more look.

His frown has deepened, and he's staring out into space.

Literally.

  
###

  
There's a beep at her door, and she pauses for a moment at the interruption, gathering her thoughts before she says, "Enter."

It's Coulson. Alone.

She stands up from her bed and smiles at him, trying to hide her nervousness at him showing up at this hour.

His face already betrays that he has something on his mind, she knows it. The way he's hovering and biting his bottom lip.

Then his eyes glance down at the pad in her hand, at the bright screen she'd been reviewing. Preparing for what's to come.

'You can come in," she tells him lightly, shutting off the pad and tossing it on the bed.

He steps inside and turns back for a moment as the door swishes closed behind him.

"Last chance to escape," she teases. Partly because she's nervous. He's looking down like he's trying to sum something up in his mind.

She remembers Coulson being in her bunk before, when she first joined SHIELD. Beside her when she woke up after being shot. Outside the quarantine room when she first became Inhuman. Inside the pod after Hive.

This feels different.

"It's a big day tomorrow," he says, lifting his eyes to her, finally.

She sort of laughs at the understatement of it all, then finds herself fidgeting, curious about what he's talking around. "Are you worried?"

"Are you?" he answers suddenly, his eyebrows knotting together, a look of concerned concentration on his face.

"If I say yes, are you going to try to talk me out of it?"

He gives her a small smile and drops his gaze. "No. If there's one thing I've learned, it's to trust your instincts."

"Then what-" she starts, trying not to grin at again, how simply and easily he flatters her. How it makes her feel proud and embarrassed at the same time.

"I just want to help."

It's so like him to offer help. But the way he says it now, it makes her suddenly feel warm, and she glances at the door. Just to check that they're still alone.

"If this is a bad time, Daisy," he goes on, gesturing towards it. "I can-"

"No!" she says, a little louder than she intended, taking a step closer and putting her hand on his arm. "It's not bad. I just don't know where to go-"

She did hug him, after they rescued him from the Kree. The weight of him safe, in her arms. Protecting him from them.

He'd held on so tight, even after Hunter announced that he would be selling tickets shortly. To pay their way home.

"It _is_ funny," he blurts out, nodding to himself, while she's still recalling the moment.

"No, it's _Hunter_ ," she says, shrugging. "He thinks that we're a...," she blinks at him, her fingers twisting around his arm. "A thing."

"What does he know?"

His voice comes out low, and he's drifted closer, or they've managed to drift together. It's not like it would be the first time.

This is usually the part where she would make a move, to get all the other stuff out of the way, the part that's too tricky to navigate.

But now she finds herself wanting to make this last.

"I could use your help," she says,  letting his arm go, and reaching down to get the pad off her bed. "Run through this a few more times?"

She taps her fingers against the screen, and he smiles, as she sits on the bed and makes room for him next to her.

He eases down and she feels his weight on her bed, his shoulder touching hers, as she puts the device between them and turns it back on.

His breath stirs against her cheek and he's so close. Right there, beside her, and her eyes close briefly as she feels his hand touch the tablet, making it come to life.

"Where should we begin?" he asks, as they open again, searching his face, lit up from below.

"From the start?"

She stares at his charmed expression while he starts to go to work.

  
###

  
"Oh please, you two. 'A victory lap in Lola?'" he huffs.

Coulson gives him a funny look and then forces him backwards as he opens Lola's passenger door, then steps out, smoothing down his hair.

"Just wanted to test Lola's upgrades in Earth gravity," he says matter-of-factly.

"Oh yes," Hunter says, following after them in the hangar, as Daisy holds onto the keys. "How scientific."

"Aren't you glad to be home? Don't you want to see Bobbi?" she asks.

"In due time," he says with some frustration, glancing from one to the other, noticing the pink in their cheeks.

They both pause and look at him like he's alien, then turn together silently back towards the base, swiping their lanyards to get inside.

"Give it up!" he yells after them.

"Where's the fun in that?" Daisy calls after him as the doors close, cutting him off from their view.

Coulson's eyes meet hers and she smirks as they walk together quietly down the hallways.

It feels familiar, some of the faces they pass they know. Others are new.

Life has moved on here without them.

"You’d get rid of him faster, you know," he suggests as they turn the corner towards the living quarters.

"But then, I’d be lying," she tells him, as they pass one closed door after the other, the lights of the environmental controls dimmer at this time of night.

"Yeah, but sometimes, it’s worth it," he says, and she nods in reply as she stops at the door.

"This is me,” she says, holding up Lola's keys towards him.

He takes them from her hand, as she turns the lock on her door behind her.

“It’s good to be home, isn’t it?” he asks conversationally, as he pockets them.

“I never left home,” she says swinging the door open wide behind her. “Just had a few scores to settle first.”

She takes one step backwards, and then he's inside with her, his hands on her face, pressing his mouth to hers like he's been saving up for it.

They had agreed, it wasn't the right time to start something.

That was then. This is now.

Her hands work in between them and start to unzip his jacket, as he darts a leg out to kick the door shut behind them, throwing him off balance.

But she saves him, she catches him by the front of his jacket and he smiles as she pulls him back in towards her, freeing up his hands to pull her shirt free from where it's tucked in her jeans.

A tiny, impatient noise escapes her for a moment, when he runs his hand along her stomach, then around her waist to pull her in close to him.

Groaning out her name as she deepens the kiss, yanking the jacket down off his arms until it's on the floor, then lifting her arms so he can pull her shirt up and off.

He pauses for a moment, taking it all in, then begins to try to slip his shoes off while he's still standing.

"I thought you'd talk more," she laughs, as he tosses them away and then meets her back at the foot of the bed, kissing her while she undoes her bra.

"Busy," he mutters, planting kisses on her cheek and then latching his lips onto her neck, his hands busy working at the front of her jeans.

They tumble together back onto the bed, and he starts to pull her jeans off, until they get snagged on her boots, so he pushes her further up the bed, his hands holding her legs behind her knees.

"Phil!"

She lifts up her hips when he gets his mouth between her thighs, busy, so busy, and she looks for something to grab hold of, twisting her fingers on the bedding.

"Is now a good time to talk?" he asks, looking up from between her legs with a smirk on his face.

"No. Shut up," she tells him, as his smirk widens, and then relaxes again. "Don't stop. I mean."

"Mmm," he says thoughtfully, going back to work, pressing his tongue against her in little circles until her hips start to rise again, and she pulls at one of the pillows, and brings it down over her face.

"That's not fair," he says, moving up over her, tugging the pillow away as she looks up at him, sucking on her bottom lip.

He runs the back of his hand over his mouth just before she pulls him down towards her, kissing him hard, until they're both out of breath.

They stop and share the moment, her fingers reaching out to touch his lips, and her breath catches when she feels his finger push inside her.

She presses her finger forward, into his mouth, thinking about all of the beautiful things he's said to her before with that mouth, while he shuts his eyes and sucks.

Then he twists his wrist and watches her fall back against the bed, leans over to kiss her again to muffle the moan escaping her, humming against her as her hands tighten on his arms, her thighs tightening around his hand, and then finally lets go.

"I feel like," he starts, rolling to lay down beside her, then turning to face her while she catches her breath. "We should start planning a mission, or something."

He laughs when she smacks him with the pillow.

 

###

  
"What's up with Coulson?" Bobbi asks, watching him walk back up the ramp. "I've never seem him look so...relaxed."

"Do you care to answer that, Daisy?" Hunter asks pointedly, while he loads his bag into the back of SUV.

"You could've asked him yourself," she replies, leaning forward to give Bobbi a nice, long hug.

"That's her new favorite way of saying 'It's not like that'," Hunter chimes in, after he shuts the trunk doors.

"Not like what?" Bobbi asks, staring between the two of them. "I mean, I'm good at reading people, but-"

Daisy shrugs, innocently in reply, as Hunter rolls his eyes and opens the driver door.

Bobbi gets in and then waits for him to enter on the other side, and they both turn and watch Daisy walk back up the ramp of the jump jet, to where Coulson is waiting for her.

They look towards the car and give a polite wave, as Bobbi smiles back up and them,, remembers to stop staring, and turns the ignition then puts the car into drive.

Hunter sighs and buckles in, looking ahead, while they drive in silence, hearing the jet lift off behind them.

"It's definitely like that," Bobbi blurts out.

"I know!!!"


End file.
